More than three decades of data on the physical, chemical and biological variables in 11 Midwestern lakes show that while lake temperatures and nutrient concentrations rise within relatively expected ranges, biological organisms achieve high population extremes.

UW Arboretum land care staff member Austin Pethan uses a drip torch as a 10-person staff manages a prescribed fire at Juniper Knoll on March 29. Fire is used as a wildland management tool to help control competing vegetation, reduce potential buildup of excess flammable materials, and perpetuate fire-dependent species.

Monica Turner has made a career of studying ecosystem resilience in the face of ecological challenges, from severe forest fires and bark beetle outbreaks in Greater Yellowstone and the northern Rockies to climate and land use change in Wisconsin.

UW-Madison Professor of Botany Donald Waller is a pioneer in exploring the impact of deer in natural habitats. For more than 20 years, Waller - who counts himself among the state's deer hunters - has led research on the economic, health and environmental impacts of deer, including:

In Wisconsin, bioenergy is for the birds. Really. In a study published today in the journal PLOS ONE, University of Wisconsin–Madison and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) scientists examined whether corn and perennial grassland fields in southern Wisconsin could provide both biomass for bioenergy production and bountiful bird habitat. The research team found that where there are grasslands, there are birds. Grass-and-wildflower-dominated fields supported more than three times as many bird species as cornfields, including 10 imperiled species found only in the grasslands.